The Emancipation Formulament: The Emancipation Proclamation In The United States

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION This Emancipation Proclamation is a copy from the original five-page document which is stored in the National Archives Building in Washington. It was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war between the north (the Union) and the south (the Confederacy). It is a legal and political text addressed to all the American people but mainly to the people in the Southern states (the Confederacy not under the Union control) of the United States of America. It also reached Europe. The preliminary Proclamation was signed on the 22nd of September 1862, when the Confederacy did not …show more content…

He then continues by declaring that all slaves from the Southern States which he mentions in the text are from now on free, ordering that the navy and army along with the Government of the United States ensure that it is carried out. He then addresses the former slaves to abstain from violence, unless it´s needed for self-defence and he asks them to work faithfully in return for wages, he also makes known that any man of a suitable age and condition will be more than welcome to enlist in the Union Army. He then finishes the text invoking both “the considerate judgment of mankind” and “the gracious favour of Almighty God” as would be expected following the conventions of the time, however it did not apply to nearly the 500,000 slaves in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland or Delaware which were Union states. The President knew that only congress could remove slavery permanently, but he had the satisfaction of seeing it come true before his early death, becoming the first American President to be assassinated on April the 14th 1865. On January the 31st of 1865 slavery was abolished completely when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the House of Representatives. Another two Amendments were passed to ensure no more discrimination against former slaves the first one was the 14th Amendment, it gave citizenship to people born or naturalized in the United States and …show more content…

Entering an era of mechanization and large scale production by the second half of the nineteenth century due to the expansion of railroads, mining, factories etc. Nonetheless the fight for black civil rights had only just started and with the 1960´s Civil Rights Movement the legacy of the Proclamation was followed strongly by Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr who made many references to the text in his addresses, even Kennedy during an appearance on national television addressing the issue of civil rights made mention to Lincoln´s Emancipation Proclamation. In my opinion the Emancipation added moral force to the Union´s cause as well as strengthening it both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the path to end slavery once and for all. I believe that the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom, and all thanks to a President that when the push came to a shove stood his ground and made the right decision to free slaves, opening up a whole new world for them, although it had not been his first intention. I believe that the outcome is what counts in the

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